By Abdulwahab Abdulah
Muslim Lawyers have been urged to put the fear of Allah first in the quest for developing their legal career.
This was contained in a paper presented by a senior advocate, Mallam Yusuf Ali, while delivering a lecture at the annual symposium of the Muslim Lawyers Association of Nigeria, MULAN, Lagos State chapter.
The occasion was also used to honour the recently elevated lawyers to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN; those elevated to the bench as well as those who attained higher positions in the academia, Vanguard reports.
In the paper titled: “Attaining Excellence in Law Practice,” Ali said, more is expected of the young lawyers entering into the law profession in order to guarantee their success.
Ali said the practice of law today has become more stressful because of technology, which he said imposed extraordinary demands on lawyers from their clients.
Ali noted that developing one’s career as a Muslim lawyer who dreams to attain excellence, demands fear Allah. According to him, the legal services is exploding today and legal employers are only willing to employ competent professionals.
“Intrinsically, Muslim lawyers must build legal knowledge; expertise and experience to excel in the profession. It must be noted that the appearance of Muslim lawyers in court is not only allowed under Islamic law but also desirable because it is permitted both in the Holy Quran and Hadith, because such representation is a sort of assistance to one another.”
He copiously referred to Quran 18 verse 19 to support his argument, while saying that a Muslim is permitted to practice law in as much as what he will say in court will be the truth.
He therefore suggested a self assessment, where Muslim lawyer will educate himself and find practical ways to acquire new skills to excel.
Besides, Mallam Ali suggested that a lawyer can be successful if he plans ahead by “think big when considering what you would like to achieve.”
“We have a duty to remain focused, determined, self confident and it will not be out of point to reiterate once again that material acquisition should not be the immediate concern, rather the building of rock-solid professional reputation.”
Earlier, chairman of MULAN, Barr. Muhammad Iskil Lawal had called on members to always promote Islamic etiquette and support the association in achieving its desired objectives.
